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The State of Consumer Debt in America, 2019
How does the old proverb go? Those who don’t study the past are doomed to repeat it. We are about 10 years out from the global economic downturn now known as the Great Recession. This major recession impacted just about every facet of the American economy, and its effects are still being felt today in the housing, retail, and credit industries. In many ways, the economy has bounced back. But there are still warning signs out there that we aren’t totally out of the woods, and another slowdown could come.

2018 American Household Credit Card Debt Study
Claire Tsosie and Erin El Issa, Dec. 10, 2018
Credit card balances carried from month to month continue to inch up, reaching $420.22 billion in late 2018, according to NerdWallet’s annual analysis of U.S. household debt. That’s an increase of about 5{21ff4f36868fa9830ff11f4d939007e345b08a69fa4833b8bf3a08fd16b9151c} over last year. And for Americans carrying that debt, the impact is significant.

The Physical & Social Impact of Credit Card Debt
Mike Brown, March, 2018.
A recent report found that U.S. consumers have hit a seven-year high in overdue credit card payments. Borrowers are now distressed on $11.9 billion in credit card debt. To see how deep debt can cut, LendEDU conducted a survey of 1,000 credit card holders in the U.S. who were, at the time of the survey, carrying a balance of more than $5,000.

2017 Credit Card Landscape Report – Terms, Trends & More
Alina Comoreanu, Senior Researcher

In Search of a Fresh Start: Can Credit Counseling Help Debtors Recover from Bankruptcy?
Angela C. Lyons, Shawn Howard & Erik Scherpf
2010

Employee Debt: Expert Views
Human Potential Accounting
2009

The Impact of Changes in Financial Stressor Events on Financial Well-Being of Debt Management Program Clients
Proceedings of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education
Prawitz, O’Neill, Sorhaindo, Kim & Garman
2008

Financial Behaviors of Consumers in Credit Counseling
International Journal of Consumer Studies
Xiao, Sorhaindo & Garman.
2006

The Impact of Credit Counseling on Subsequent Borrower Behavior
The Journal of Consumer Affairs
Elliehausen, Lundquist & Staten
2007